Preview

The Crucible

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
581 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Crucible
In Arthur Miller 's The Crucible, Abigail demonstrates the emotions of love, determination, and cunningness. Abigail expresses a love through power and control over the village of Salem. She infrequently takes desperate measures in order to make sure John Proctor will renounce Elizabeth. Abigail takes advantage of the events taking place in the village. In Arthur Miller 's 1953 The Crucible, Abigail Williams demonstrates the emotions of love, determination and cunningness because of her love for power and control, her pledge to make John love her the way she loves him, and her benefit of knowing information others do not.

Abigail loves the feel of being in control and powerful. Abigail threatens the girls saying, "[…] let either of you breathe a word […] and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you […]" (Miller 19). Abigail is telling the other girls that if they mention a word about her wanting to kill Elizabeth, she will hurt them.
As said by Danforth, "You deny every scrap and title of this." Abigail replies, "If I must answer that I will leave and I will not come back again!" (Miller 103) Abigail is telling Judge Danforth that it either goes the way she wants it to go or it does not happen at all.
Although Abigail enjoys the feeling of being in control and powerful, she also shows a great deal of determination.

Abigail is dedicated to be the only woman in Proctor 's life. According to John Proctor, "Abby […] I 'll not be comin ' for you more." Abby responds, "I have a sense for heat, John, and yours has drawn me to my window." (Miller 21) Abigail and John disagree about their feelings towards each other. Abigail feels that John still wants her, but John assures her he does not. While Abigail is visiting Betty, she awakes from being in a deep sleep and states, "You drank blood Abby! [...]You drank a charm to kill John Proctor 's wife […]." (Miller 18) Betty is telling Abigail and



Cited: Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: A Screenplay. New York: Penguin Books, 1996.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    fancied Abigail”. A few moments later she finally states that “Proctor did not turn from…

    • 650 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Crucible, we know that Abigail Williams is obsessed with John Proctor’s love, which motivates her to go down a villainous path. She is vindictive and a compulsive liar, which allows her to have power in the Salem Witch Trials. Here, we can apply the typical character traits of female villains.The romance element is very important to Abigail’s villainy. Abigail's behaviour in the trials is provoked by her past affair with John Proctor as well as her feelings towards Elizabeth. In this situation, Proctor is supposedly responsible for Abigail’s evil nature. The aftermath of this relationship led to the revenge attribute, in which Abigail and the other girls begin accusing people of witchcraft as a way of hopefully eliminating Elizabeth…

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In conclusion, Abigail’s flaws of lust, dishonesty, and temper led her to be the most responsible for the tragedy of witch-hunt in Salem. I chose Abigail because I believed that she was the reason this whole thing started and, if it wasn’t for her lustful thoughts, ability to lie without being caught, and her quick-temper fits all of this could have been…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abigail can be seen as a misfit throughout the entire novel. Abigail had tried multiple times to get Elizabeth proctor accused of witchcraft so that she could have John Proctor for herself. She used her uncle's power with the church to get her way. Abigail likes to get people executed because they've done something to her that angers…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The character of Abigail is often accused of being one-dimensional. She doesn't express one shred of remorse the entire time, making her seem almost inhumanly diabolical. However, even though Abigail's actions are ruthless, they are in some ways understandable.…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “[Abigail wants] to open [herself]! [she wants] the light of God, [she] wants the sweet love of Jesus; [she kissed] his hand. [she] saw Sarah Good with the Devil! [She] saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! [She] saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!”. In this event Abigail clearly shows that she will stop at nothing to make the situation better for her. She does not care about any of the lives she puts in danger her remorsefulness leads to the hanging of seventeen…

    • 719 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Act 2 Elizabeth is arguing with Proctor and confesses some concerns she has about Abigail. “Spoke or silent, a promise is surely made. And she may dote on it now—and I am sure she does—and thinks to kill me then to take my place” (Miller Act 2). Here Elizabeth is warily expressing what she fears Abigail stands to gain by implicating her as witch since she’s realized that Abigail is desperate to get what she wants by any means possible. Abigail is well aware of the amount of sway she holds the trials and aspires to put it in good use. This sense of power overtakes her and makes her want for more, whether that is through accusing more people—just because she can—or removing Elizabeth. But Abigail reasons that once she has removed Abigail from the equation she’s essentially won and gained the highest power of all, being by Proctor’s side. This intense focus on Proctor only serves to push him even further away and pushes her closer to the downfall of losing him and herself in the…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible was a controversial piece of literature by Arthur Miller. The main character Abigail Williams demonstrates that Unjust people or pride will attempt to break them down by pointing fingers, turning Salem people against each other, running away, and stealing money from her Uncle “Reverend Parris” to defend her mistakes. Abigail is in love with John Proctor, whom she has an affair with. John is married to Elizabeth and when she finds out that John is sleeping with another woman, Abigail, she fires her from being their maid. Abigail's hates Elizabeth’s guts, she will do anything to get rid of her and have John all to herself. Abigail came up with this idea if Elizabeth is out of the picture, maybe then her and John could be together.…

    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    She is so selfish she yells at people, threatens to beat people up, and wishes death upon them if she doesn’t get her way. In the beginning of the play all the girls should have told everyone what really happened when they were dancing in the forest. If that had happened none of the girls would have started to accuse any one of witchcraft. But since Abigail is so selfish she ruins an entire town by threatening people her friends so her reputation and her name do not get ruined. Abigail tells all of her friends “If anyone spreads the word about us doing witchcraft, I will come to your house and kill you.” I would not want that kind of friend if she threatens to kill me. Also Betty went into a coma so Abigail was trying to wake her up. Abby started threatening Betty that she would beat her up if she didn’t wake up. All of sudden Betty gets up and screams out a window that Abby drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor! She also threatens Marry Warren to not tell anyone that she was in the forest with him or her. I can see why Abigail is threatening everybody because she wants to save her name and her reputation. But everything she does it is in a very selfish…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    John Proctor Tragic Hero

    • 1843 Words
    • 8 Pages

    When Abigail threatens to accuse yet another innocent soul of witchcraft in her plot to have him to herself, John Proctor breaks forth, shouting, “It [Abigail] is a whore!... I have made a bell of my honor! I have rung the doom of my good name—you will believe me, Mr. Danforth! My wife is innocent, except she knew a whore when she saw one!” (Miller 3.3). John Proctor, the protagonist of the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, has an affair with Abigail Williams, a seventeen-year-old orphan, which culminates in his wife’s discovery of it and subsequent casting out of Abigail from their household. Abigail, fueled by jealousy and lust, vows to have Elizabeth, John’s wife, killed so that she can have John to herself; she attempts to realize this…

    • 1843 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abigail has not only started the uprising of witches in Salem but by the end of the book is accounted for most if not all the deaths that occurred during this time. In the beginning she blackmails the entire group of girls to side with her or else “[she] will come to you in the black of some terrible night and shudder you”.(Miller 20) By having live witnesses as proof, this puts Abigail in a great position to choose whatever outcome she wants. Abigail could simply accuse anyone as a witch and have support to backup her claim, making her victorious regardless of the victim's case. This is shown where later in the novel she accuses Elizabeth of tampering with witchcraft to obtain Proktor for herself.…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The third adjective that describes Abigail is a leader. There are many reasons why Abigail is a leader, the first reason, she was the leader of the group of girls. The second reason is that she lead all the girls to the woods and they were all dancing naked. And the last reason is whatever she said the girls would repeat it back and whatever she does they do the same thing. In the play when Abigail was in court she said see saw Marry Warren spirit and it was coming after her and when she was yelling “stop it Marry” the girls was yelling “ stop it…

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    DANFORTH, thinks, glances at Mary, then back to Abigail; Children, a very augur bit will now be turned into your souls until your honesty is proved. Will either of you change your positions now, or do you force me to hard questioning? ABIGAIL: I have naught to change, sir. She lies” (Miller 102). This quote means that the other girls in the woods were telling the truth about what happened but the court didn’t realize it so they gave all the power to Abigail to find out what happened in the woods. As we know Abigail abused that power and was telling lies about what really happened in the woods so she could get out of trouble. She also knows that if she tells the truth, she will get caught by John Proctor because she drank the potion that would kill his wife. She eventually tells John Proctor the truth but it doesn’t matter to John because he doesn’t know about the potion she…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    First of all, Abigail poses a series of question regarding violence and how things were being dealt. She seems to dislike the process of the revolution.…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abigail posses an immoral persona and many of her actions are unethical. She wants one thing and one thing only, John Proctor, a married man. She participates in infidelity and constructs a web of lies. She knows that it is a sin to have sex with a married man but continues to proclaim her love for him, “I will not, i cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is you love me yet!” (The Crucible, Act 1). In connection with the infidelity she lies on Elizabeth, Proctor’s wife, and says her spirit stabbed her when in reality she stabbed herself. Similar to her lack of emotions it proves how immoral, unethical, and selfish she really is.…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays